West Coast Division 3 Racing
TSRF24, Retro F1 and Retro Pro races, March 31, 2007
Buena Park, CA

Team Checkpoint domination continues: two for Mike Steube, one for Philippe de Lespinay with new Checkpoint team mate Sterrett twice on the podium. Will anyone stop them?
By "Gene Husting", photos by "Al Hall"...

One has to grasp the frustration of some of the racers confronted with the near-outrageous domination of Western D3 racing by the team Checkpoint members. The amount of work and thinking devoted especially by Mike Steube after months of struggling a year ago is now paying off handsomely.

Pre Race Activity

Due to pressing obligations by quite a few regular entrants, the fields were narrower than usual while the entry total was adequate. During practice, it was clear that the Checkpoint boys had the Retro Pro field worried as their new cars built by Mike had the cornering speed advantage if not the horsepower. Closest machinery was that of Mike Boemker and Allen Low, both with serious horsepower, Boemker's car having the cornering speed advantage over that of Allen. Paul Sterrett borrowed Philippe's back-up car for the race. This car had previously been run on the smaller Kingleman track but unfortunately there was no time to change the gear ratio. It appears strange to this writer that after hearing the screaming for the Retro Pro class to come to existence so as to provide "greater speeds" than the "rear-view mirror class" ( AKA the successful Retro Can-Am class... ), only seven entries showed up to race.
The Retro F1 class was the most successful of the day with 12 entries, again a rather meager field. All four team Checkpoint members appeared to be strong, Lee Hines getting better at every race. Mike Steube and Paul Sterrett were fastest, with Philippe de Lespinay struggling a bit until Mike fixed his car's improperly set guide clearance.
In the TSRF NASCAR class, Mike Steube appeared strongest with Paul Sterrett close behind.

TSRF 1/24 Scale NASCAR Race

The field with Mike Steube's Chevy second from the right.

Mike Steube had the field covered and just drove away from Paul Sterrett who got entangled twice in minor collisions. De Lespinay was third-best on this contest and finished 10 laps down after losing his car twice at the very beginning of segments. Crash & Burn is not a forgiving format. Lee Hines had the fastest car bar none but struggled to keep it on track, bettering Roger Uusitalo by a single lap. Rick Salvino and Dennis Hill shared driving duties for Philippe's back-up Chevrolet. Dennis was out of practice with those hard to drive machines but was very fast while on track.

The Concours winners with Paul Sterrett's Ford, Rick Salvino's Chevy and Philippe de Lespinay's Ford in that order.

* Fastest lap

Matt Kenseth's Ford having its motor cooled by this trick auto-start fan/setup block won at the 2001 Tassie Tiger II as a race prize.

Retro F1 Qualifying

Some of the F1 cars awaiting qualifying.

Qualifying began with munchkin Gavin Aguirre setting the bar for everyone at 6.31". He was immediately bettered by his older brother with a clean 5.83". Then their father settled the inter-family battle with a fast 5.31". Neither Lee Hines, Terry de los Santos or Jeff Easterly, who had lost some of his morning steam, could better Mike's time. Philippe de Lespinay's Steube car had not been able to better 5.15' in the morning but suddenly came to speed as he set a rather blistering hair-lap at 4.96" backed by a 5.01". Neither Mike Steube at 5.07", Yoshi Akiyama (with a very fast new car hi built himself) and Paul Sterrett hampered by a slow motor could better Philippe's time.

* Fastest lap

Retro F1 "B" Race

The "B" race ready to start. The blue Cooper-Maserati will just drive away from the field.

Lee Hines in full battle gear is awaiting the starter's signal. John Javier and Terry de los Santos are inspecting the garb while Jeff Easterly and the two munchkin are posing for the camera.

This was a walk away for Jeff Easterly who put a clean 5 laps over an ever-improving Lee Hines. Jeff's car was one of those undefeatable machines of which he holds secret. John Javier drove prudently to a deserved 3rd placing after Terry de los Santos had a brutal shunt that damaged his car. The Aguirre under-4-foot family drove as best as they could, Gavin having some issues with when to accelerate or brake. Future world champs have to start somewhere.

* Fastest lap

Retro F1 "A" Race

Mike Steube led the first segment a mere lap over Yoshi Akiyama and two over Paul Sterrett hurting for horsepower. De Lespinay was even in more hurt already 3 laps in arrears due to starting on the purple lane that had serious glue or power problems. He nearly burned his motor trying to get through the muck. Rick Salvino and Mike Aguirre were also trailing with various problems.
Once on the black lane, Philippe got within a lap of Mike, with Yoshi now in the same lap. Next heat and it was all over with Philippe's horsepower-advantaged Steube car taking the lead and running away with the race.
Mike kept everyone else at bay, and Paul Sterrett did well to apply his impeccable driving to place 3rd with the slowest car in the straight bits. Yoshi faded away to 4th in the same lap as Mike Aguirre, while Rick Salvino's car died and a switch to another did not help.

Mike and Philippe are flanked by Paul. All three have good reasons to smile.

* Fastest lap

The winning trio: the Sterrett Lotus 56, de Lespinay Cooper and Steube Lotus 49. Paul's Lotus also was in second place in Concours.

The cars with the two Steube chassis left and Paul's great handling but horsepower-challenged chassis. Well served by a rocket motor that came alive after being set in reverse wiring, Philippe won with the very car Mike used to win the last F1 race on the Hillclimb track. Gearing was 9-26. Note the use of worn-out and re machined TSRF 1/32 scale rear wheels for use as front wheels.

Retro Pro Race

The fast machines ready to pounce. Easterly's McLaren is on red, Hines on white, Sterrett on green, de Lespinay on orange, Low on blue, Steube on yellow and Boemker on purple. Within a few minutes the knives came out.

Jeff Easterly and Lee Hines are wondering why they are there, while Paul Sterrett points the direction to the beach to an errand onlooker. Boemker, Steube and Low are still trying to figure on which way to connect their controllers.

Mike Steube led the first segment after dicing with his team mate Philippe for the entire heat, the two cars nearly side by side, unable to make any impression on each other. The two new chassis were clothed with the M.A.C. Porsche 917-30 body designed by Philippe a mere 34 years ago, and the combination proved unbeatable. Mike Boemker was in 3rd a mere lap behind, with Allen Low in the same lap. Paul Sterrett lacked the horsepower if not the handling with his improperly geared car and was another lap behind, with Lee Hines and Jeff Easterly trailing.
The second heat saw Mike now 2 laps ahead of Mike Boemker and Allen Low, as a marshal involuntarily caught Philippe's car with his elbow, resulting in a deranged body. This cost Philippe 2 laps that he could never regain. Paul Sterrett's car chewed a spur gear, taking him out. Lee Hines and Jeff Easterly were now 10 laps in arrears.
While Mike Steube projected himself ahead, a fierce race between Boemker and de Lespinay ensued, with the cars set against each other for several laps, Boemker's slightly faster motor making up the few inches that de Lespinay was able to regain in the donut. Eventually, what was to happen did and both cars flew off the track, with more damage to the already deranged Checkpoint machine. Not too happy about the outcome, de Lespinay lost his cool and promptly walled Boemker's car in the dead man, regaining a lap over him in the process and now steadily pulling away. A few diplomatic but stern words were exchanged, but the whole matter was resolved amicably after the race. Mike Steube kept his 2-lap advantage until heat # 6 when another errand car and lack of marshals cost another lap to de Lespinay, while Boemker had mechanical issues and was overtaken by Allen Low's now faster machine.
Mike Boemker came back and overtook Allen in heat # 7, but in the last heat lost by mere feet to Allen after he ran into more problems with a slightly deranged car from all the previous incidents. In the last 3 heats, both the Steube and de Lespinay cars were handling so well on the black and yellow lanes that they were flat out around the whole track. Mike won with 3 over Philippe and 10 over Allen Low who had his first-ever D3 podium. Poor Mike Boemker ended in 4th but was the only racer truly competitive with the Checkpoint machines today. Lee Hines did well in this new environment and a year-old car, the first built by the prolific Mike Steube. He bettered Jeff Easterly's car using a Chinese arm in his pro-Slot motor.

* Fastest lap
** Race Record

Allen Low and the usual suspects. Philippe points to the vintage "Somebody's Got To Eat It" sticker on his car. Mike won another one!

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